A manifestation where freedom is practiced, created and remembered.
RESTORATION: WE USE BLACK DIASPORIC WISDOM TRADITIONS TO RESTORE WHOLENESS TO OURSELVES, RELATIONSHIPS, AND COMMUNITIES. THROUGH EARTH BASED MEDICINE, ANCESTRAL TECHNOLOGIES , SUSTAINED HEALING PRACTICES, AND STORYTELLING WE INVITE EVERYONE INTO REMEMBRANCE OF THEIR PEOPLE, POWER, AND PURPOSE.
RELATIONAL ECONOMY: WE ARE INCREASING OUR ABILITY TO CREATE AND GROW MUTUALISTIC RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE EARTH AND EACH OTHER TO SUSTAIN A LIVING NETWORK EVOLVING TOWARDS FREEDOM. INNOVATION: NEW TACTICS ARE NEEDED TO RESPOND TO HEIGHTENING THREATS TO OUR SAFETY AND HUMANITY. WE ARE SPAWNING A COMMUNITY FLUENT IN ACTIVATING THEIR CREATIVITY TO MANIFEST NEW PATHWAYS FOR JUSTICE, LIBERATION AND FREEDOM.
LAND STEWARDSHIP: LAND IS OUR ANCHOR FOR SOLIDARITY AND A MASTER TEACHER IN RESILIENCE. WE ARE COMMITTED TO INCREASING THE LAND STEWARDSHIP OF BLACK, INDIGENOUS, AND PEOPLE OF COLOR, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO ARE QUEER/TRANS*.
DR. DANIEL COLEMAN
IGNACIO HUTÍA XEITI RIVERA KASSAMIRA CARTER LISBETH WHITE
OMISADE BURNEY-SCOTT
RACHAEL IBRAHIM
TRINA GREENE BROWN
GINA BREEDLOVE
ALEXIS GARCIA
GODDESS DIRECTOR OF ALCHEMY
MICHAEL TALLY CONSTRUCTION MANAGER
Working with those who provide care for our communities has been the core of our strategy to strengthen our movements and create new pathways to freedom. We have been pleased to engage nearly 100 practitioners, artists, and spiritual leaders in our programs since beginning our work in 2016. This year, we deepened our work with the practitioner community by launching 3 new practitioner development programs - The Ancestral Spirit Kollective, House of Olokun, and TransFire Artists Residency.
The Ancestral Spirit Kollective (The ASK), launched to work with emerging Black Southern Healing Justice Practitioners ages 16 - 22. Initiates receive political education of Healing Justice, work 1-on-1 with mentors, and learn a reange of Black diasporic healing justice practices. Initiates are also supported with creating healing justice offerings for their community and facilitated a healing room for Black Love Convergence.
Unique in the ecosystem of artist residencies, the TransFire Artist Residency is a low residency program for Trans/NonBinary/Gender Non Conforming multiple disciplinary artists.
Artists do an in-person retreats on the land, monthly studio time, receive 1-on-1 mentorship, learn skills to enhance their visibility, receive resources to support their art making, and are offered five opportunities to showcase their work.
The House of Olokun has evolved from our community Black Trans*/Non Binary/ Gender Expansive community asking for spaces to explore Black Diasporic spirituality and build community. Our newest program, we are already hearing how imperative this group is for participants emotional health, and collective healing. This group of practitioners will spearhead our Healing Room offerings for Black Love Convergence 2023.
We celebrated three years on the land in Georgia in 2022! Over that time we have focused on helping guests to the retreat center engage the land as a partner in healing and movement building. As more and more people journey with us, we are learning more about how the land can strengthen us to face the unknown, teach us about collective healing, and allow us the spaciousness to experience joy.
Our season opener is an invite only event which gathers our Giving Circle, practitioners, staff, and Wisdom Circle to be bring their energy into land. The weekend includes art, ritual, and family reunion style pool party. This event supports building integration across the organization, and gives our Community of Practice an opportunity to see developments on the land live!
Attached to Black Love Convergence, The Black Artist retreat is an inperson retreat for Black artist to come build community, create, and restore together. Our first year we were honored artists from North Carolina, Kentucky, and Georgia joined us.
Our first ever service event, the Landaversary is an opportunity for participants to help with harvesting from our herbal farms, build community with other locals, and enjoy the land. This year's event including the debut showing from our TransFire Artists in Residence.
Tailor-Made Wellness offerings are designed to merge the wisdom of Acorn Center for Restoration and Freedom with organizations seeking to deepen their connection to healing, arts, and spiritual justice. Offerings include talks, teach-ins, practice spaces, consultation, and workshops which invite deeper practices for our HEARTS Justice framework. We are inspired by how our movements are embracing these offerings to support long-term transformation, integrate healing into their strategies, and embody liberatory practices.
This year Acorn Center for Restoration and Freedom partnered with Cypress Fund to develop group coaching circles with BIPOC Executive Directors (Circle of Fire), and Black Land Stewards (Circle of Redwoods) in North and South Carolina. Both circles aimed at supporting the integration of HEARTS Justice framework into the leadership skills of participants, and create more community among those facing similar challenges. The Circle of Fire has also included leading voices in leadership development, Sage Crump and Charlene Carruthers, to impart their wisdom on the intersections of identity, feminism and healing justice. The Circle of Redwoods has been focused on developing an understanding of Land Stewards, as well as skill-sharing on issues such as security, off-grid building, funding, and infrastructure. Both spaces have become a staple in the region as one of the only opportunities for BIPOC leaders to build relationships, practice integrating healing justice, and deepen their development as leaders.
